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Sunday, October 13, 2013

Christine Presents: Olympia Day Five

The journey to Olympia

After a short nights sleep the travelers embarked on their
next adventure. Olympia called their name. The journey would take four hours
their and four hours back. The glorious weather was nothing that anyone could
complain about and the scenery flying by was breathtaking.

This trip would take us in a different direction than the
day before. I’d brought my knitting to keep me occupied but put the wrong beads
in my knitting bag. Then I’d forgotten my markers for the pattern changes. One
creative traveler suggested floss to make the markers since I didn’t have
scissors to cut the yarn.

With all that done, I decided to upload and crop pictures
for Rogue phoenix Press image store.

Olympia:

RUINS AT OLYMPIA

Olympia was the site of the original Olympic games. The
temple of Zeus was the former site of a forty-foot statue of Zeus. The statue
was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.

OLYMPIC TORCH LIT HERE

The Altar of Hera where since 1936 athletes have lit the
ceremonial Olympic torch for both summer and winter games. The Olympic torch for the 2014 Olympic games has already been lit. Hera was Zeus’ wife.

FINISH LINE FOR THE ORIGINAL OLYMPIC RACES

The ancient Greeks had a competition called the Heraean
Games. This competition was for women
athletes and it took place every four years.

The first Olympic games featured only one event. This was a sprint race over one length of the
stadium or 640ft. More events were added. At the height of the Games, about 400
B.C. there were thirteen events held over five days. At the 2014 Games the shot
put was featured at Olympia.

Meaning of the Greek owl:

In Ancient Greece, the Athenian Owl symbolised the goddess Athena who in turn embodied wisdom.

Athena had won patronage of Athens against Poseidon through her gift of the Olive branch which grew into a towering tree to feed and shelter the city. The Athenians had favoured this gift over the one provided by Poseidon of a spring of water which proved to be too salty.

We can speculate at why an owl might be associated with Athena:

1.) The light reflecting from an Owl’s eyes at night gives it the appearance of an ‘inner light’ or wisdom itself.

2.) A particular species of Owl nested in the Acropolis of Athens (a temple dedicated to the goddess Athena).

Remnants of this symbol are left behind in the coinage of Athens. As the most influential coin of its time, the Athenian Owl featured Athena on one side and an Owl on the other. Affectionately known as “Owls”, they were in circulation for well over 300 years (c. 430 B.C. to c. 99 B.C.).

It is also the first widely minted coin that placed a ‘head’ on the front and a ‘tail’ (an animal image) on the obverse.

If we accept the second point as a more likely story, the presence of Owls could be represented as the presence of Athena in the same manner that the presence of an Eagle is related to Zeus.